This Northern Life

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Farm-to-Farm Bike Tour

Last weekend I rode on the Paloma Institute's Farm-to-Farm Bike Tour to raise money for farms in Haiti. I went with a couple of my friends, but in typical Moscow fashion, I knew quite a few people on the ride. All of the farms were in Moscow, but a couple of them I would actually classify as "people who live in old houses with really large yards." In those cases, the families had good intentions to homestead, but found it to be difficult. Except when you are homesteading within a mile of Safeway, it is much easier to just bag it and say you are "growing vegetables for the family and neighbors" (note: in the interest of full disclosure, I live a half-mile from Safeway).

Of course there is nothing new under the sun, and the original homesteaders found homesteading to be pretty difficult as well. Many of them had no idea what they were getting into when they started. Some of my ancestors started homesteading in Kansas, but found droughts difficult to deal with and continued on to Tumwater, Washington. Tumwater has pretty much the same climate as the one they left back east, with the exception that it is potentially even more mild. The adversities of wagon trains/homesteading are also the reason that in all the times I played the computer game "Oregon Trail" on those first generation P.C.'s in elementary school, I never once actually made it to Oregon.

Which isn't to say there isn't something worthwhile about at least trying to be somewhat self-sufficient, as long as you are also realistic about it. I know I'm not going to be feeding my family entirely on things grown on my property. However, it was somewhat reassuring to find out that everyone else's broccoli also looks pretty pathetic this year, and my tomatoes look better than some (thanks Doug!). And I did get some good tips and saw a few pretty awesome farms, with people that actually are making a living farming. Not to mention I got to eat some pretty good food, and had a great time hanging out with friends on a Sunday afternoon!